Alex Gough Bumps into 13th spot at Luge World Cup in Germany

A small mistake midway down her first run cost Canada’s Alex Gough a shot at the podium at the Luge World Cup in Oberhof, Germany on Sunday.

One week after making history as the only Canadian to ever win three World Cup medals when she claimed the bronze down the road in Königssee, Germany, the 23-year-old Gough bumped the wall midway down the track which cost her loads of time and a shot in the top-five.

The two-time Olympian finished with a time of one minute, 28.118 seconds.

“It was a little mistake in her first run that cost us big time,” said Wolfgang Staudinger, head coach, Canadian Luge Team. “It was a little error and I can’t fault the driving. Alex had a really good second run so it was unfortunate.”

The world’s best luge athletes had to battle brutal conditions with raining pelting down on the Oberhof track.

“The tracked changed so much form training to race time,” said Staudinger. “It was wet and pretty brutal. We’ll move on and get ready for next week.”

The German woman captured the top-four spots in the standings. Tatjana Hüfner came out on top with a time of 1:26.366. Natalie Geisenberger was second at 1:26.775, while Anke Wischnewski claimed the bronze (1:27.298).

Calgary’s World Cup rookie, Arianna Jones, was the only other Canadian in the field and finished 18th at 1:28.539.

Following the women’s race, Gough teamed up with Sam Edney along with Justin Snith and Tristan Walker to form Canada’s entry in the team relay.

The Canadians finished in seventh spot with a time of 2:30.192. Germany completed the golden show on Sunday winning the team event as well with a time of 2:227.306. Russia claimed the silver at 2:28.714, while Italy won the bronze with a time of 2:29.047.

The Canadian Luge Association is a not-for-profit organization responsible for governing the sport of luge across the country. With the financial backing of its title sponsor, Fast Track Capital, along with the support from the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee and Own the Podium, the Canadian Luge Association safely recruits and develops the nation_s current and future high-performance luge athletes with the goal of regularly climbing onto the international podium. For more information on the Canadian Luge Association, please visit us at www.luge.ca on the Internet.

COMPLETE RESULTS: www.fil-luge.org
Women’s Top-Five and Canadian Results:
1.Tatjana Hüfner, GER, 1:26.366; 2. Natalie Geisenberger, GER, 1:26.775; 3. Anke Wischnewski, GER, 1:27.298; 4. Carina Schwab, GER, 1:27.470; 5. Tatiana Ivanova, RUS, 1:27.693.
Canadian Results:
13. Alex Gough, Calgary, 1:28.118; 18. Arianne Jones, Calgary, 1:28.539

Team Results:
1. Germany, 2:27.306; 2. Russia, 2:28.714; 3. Italy, 2:29.047; 4. USA, 2:29.521; 5. Austria, 2:29.903; 7. Canada, 2:30.192